New Delhi: A Pakistani fighter jet wrapped in the Indian flag! That was what appeared in a video shot for Independence Day celebrations, leaving many in the government red faced.
The video, posted on Twitter, was removed after the Twitterati pointed out that the jets were, in fact, Pakistani aircraft.
The opening portion of the Culture Ministry's over one-minute video celebrating '70 years of Independence' featured an animated sequence of the two JF-17 flying with the Indian flag. As if that were not enough, in trying to explain away the embarrassing boo-boo, a government source made it worse by saying that the "inadvertent mistake" happened because the Chinese-Pakistani "JF-17 looks similar to India's Tejas light combat aircraft" and it is difficult for an ordinary citizen to know the difference between the two aircraft. The JF-17 jet was jointly developed by Pakistan and China and both are promoting it big time to garner global supply orders. Incidentally, Sri Lanka, which was in talks for the JF-17, has rejected the aircraft and is now eyeing Tejas. Pakistan intends to make it the main stay of its fighter fleet. But it does not happen only in India. In March 2011, Pakistan Navy had issued a full-page advertisement, which appeared in several Pakistani newspapers, featuring the Indian Navy's Delhi, Godavari and Talwar-class warships for Pakistan's Aman-11 multi-national exercise. PTI